Lower quality marble with high iron content, probably from China or India.

Once the tiles get wet during the cutting and installation process the moisture reacts with the iron and you get orange/brown rust.

Compare the price of the Floor & Decor marble tile with the higher quality marble offerings from Country Floors or Artistic Tile. Would you have paid the difference?

https://www.countryfloors.com/

https://www.artistictile.com/

Took a quick look at the corresponding websites and you are looking at F&D $7/sq.ft versus $60/sq.ft for the higher quality marble at the other tile stores.

You can probably find a decent quality marble somewhere between those two price points, but you need to be shopping at your local independent tile stores and not big box stores.

Thank you, unfortunately I’m learning the very hard way.

@chispa There is decent moderately priced marble tile but it is more than $7 per square foot.

I have a mixture of marbles in my bathroom.

I have an accent feature from Artistic Tile which was $180 per square foot.

I have slab marble from a stone yard which I don't remember the cost of since I bought the slabs and they were then fabricated into counter, curbs and bench.

My floor is marble Calacatta tile from Emser which is moderately priced but was still about $18.00 per square foot. ETA My wall tile was more expensive as I got Encore hand fired tile which was $45 per square foot. The great thing about having a small bathroom is that the cost of the finishes aren't as significant an expense since the labor is more or less the same whether a bathroom is relatively small or "regular" size.

FWIW I personally wouldn't have large marble tiles as my bathroom floor. I rented an apartment when I renovated which has 12" x 12" marble tiles in the bathroom floors and I felt I was risking death unless I was completely conscious of every foot step. My basketweave tiles are very grippy because of the grout and I feel super secure even when I am being a bit oblivious .

I'd try a poultice and give it some time before replacement. It took the marble at our mall a year or so to become consistent.

this is an issue with low quality marble, sadly.

I am sorry re: your issue - I can only imagine how disappointing it must be.

Do they have many photos of it installed on their website? If what’s happened to your tile is ”normal” - did they show any discolored tiles in the photos?

I have seen rust issues with installed marble tiles (particularly less expensive marble from China) - but it seems like you have A LOT of them - maybe more than 50%?

Which exact marble did you purchase? I just pulled up the website - and Maravilla has different types of marble tiles sold at F&D.

My sister installed some a few years ago - it was Bianco Carrara marble - which originated from Italy. She said it was more expensive per SF (around $18 sf if I remember correctly) than most of the other marble tiles. She hasn’t had any issues with it.

I was trying to find out where the origin of the marble is - but I’m not familiar with F &D - and didn’t realize how many different types of marble they sell.

What color thinset did they use? the white or the gray? gray thinset will make the tiles darker

was it versabond or something else?

how long have they been this brown color?

are the tiles completely dry?

were they sealed?

yes, you prob got cheap marble. Unless it says actual Carrara Marble from Italy (no one else can claim carrara) it's prob marble from china that resembles carrara.

Had Floor and Decor come out and give a third-party inspection and the end result is this is “normal.”

For the record, this is NOT normal. (if your guys used white thinset meant for marble. you need to confirm that) . what a load of poo! Imagine telling your customer the white marble you purchased is SUPPOSED to turn brown after install! Were they serious?? Time to contact someone higher up in that food chain.

if that floor tile is fully dry, (like a month dry) I'd rip it out and do something else. that looks horrible. sorry.

white thinset for white marble, ALWAYS

Thank you all for your comments. Lesson learned. Unfortunately, I assumed the contractor knew what he was doing so now I know all the questions to ask ahead of time. His work coupled with cheap tiles from floor and decor were a bad combination.

elie, do you have any answers to the questions I posed for you?

You don't have to accept this tile. (unless the tile setter did use the wrong products)

If he used white thinset and the correct products (like sealer, install, etc) I'd say that tile is really sub-par, even for floor and decor. complain to someone higher up and get a refund. Is there something on the box of tiles that say, "after install the white may turn brown" ? anything to that effect? If no, you got bad tiles and should be refunded. Asking money back for a new install would be great too, but not sure you want to push it that far.

Thanks. I really don’t have a lot of the answers until I speak to the contractor who is coming over this week to go through everything with my husband and me.

casually ask him to show you the exact bag of thinset used to set those tiles. don't ask him "Did you use white thinset", because if he didn't, he's going to lie and say yes. Just have him show you a pic of the bag he used. Ditto grout. and any sealer.